There’s a new way to do business with the Post Office and it’s not with the usual line of suspects. The Village Post Office may be coming to a town near you, and their numbers are continuing to grow every month.
Designed to offer a limited number of products and services, this new breed of independently operated Post Office ‘essentials’ will allow customers to buy stamps, mail letters, send packages, and possibly rent PO Boxes. Services available at these new centers will vary depending on the demands of the community, though they’ll generally offer basic mail services where none might otherwise exist.
The Village Post Office concept may not be a new one, but it can create an opportunity to create or maintain a Postal presence in smaller communities. It also has the potential to increase foot traffic inside the building of the local business or other organization that installs it. That could translate into an additional revenue source for the business that opts in.
There are currently 20 Village Post Offices open for business as of April 30, 2012, with many more coming out in the next few months. This single strategy probably won’t correct the enormous woes of the Post Office. It is, however, one option among many currently being implemented in an attempt to turn a chilling financial deficit around.
Do you think the Village concept can help the Post Office out of its fiscal crisis? Comment here.
16 comments:
The Village Post Office will not work in a rural community.
The idea of a village post office is scary. There is no way your average store clerk could grasp all the details needed to wait on postal customers. Also, having limited services offered by a village post office isn't fair to our customers that are used to getting good service from us.
I am not happy that we continue to promote ways in which to end our jobs for good. These VPOs are being offered as an alternative to our small community POs, not in conjunction with them. Just like sending me pamphlets and counter cards that ask my customers to do all of their business online. REALLY?! My customers think I am nuts when I put these things up. I throw my hands up, USPS: what am I to do when I am told to promote something that will end my job?!?!
I am curious how this will work. Who will be responsible for the mail? If just anybody at the local store has access I would think that the sanctity of the mail just took a nose dive. We have no idea what type of people they hire so if a package or two disappears then the customer will look for other means of getting their items safely from Point A to B.= More lost revenue.
AGREE with the all of the above !
What about Aviation Security? Will we be able to hold the "clerk" accountable for allowing an explosive device he accepted and subsequently brought down an aircraft full of people over a large city? Think it won't happen? Why do you think we have all those safety measures in the first place? The threat is real.
I have a customer who drives 15 miles one way to give her mail to a REAL postal employee. She will not use the local Contract Station. When is upper management going to start SAVING the PO instead of giving it away. More customers will pay online use UPS ect to get a real employee accountable for their mail. I for one don't want just anyone handling my mail.
They gotta purchase their stamps to supply their place. Good business & convenient for the customers.
Darlen RR 17
Hudson Station
Modesto,Ca
I agree with all the comments EXCEPT the last one - Good Business- just what tree did you fall out of?????????? Upper management is cutting the Postal Service's throat just as fast as they can. Why can't the people see this????
I know that labor costs are our agency's most expensive cost so do realize that we need out of the box thinking. so, what services do these village stores offer? and do they buy outright, sort of like a middleman? or are we keeping track of more data?
I for one think it's a slap in the face to a community to take away their post office and replace it with a VPO with reduced services. Is this the way we "Grow the Business"? I think not.
USPS Headquarters is out of touch with reality!! We will lose Sanctity of the Mail, Responsible & Dependable Service, Revenue, & Most Importantly CUSTOMERS. With the current & future course that management in Washington DC has developed, they are intentionally promoting the DEMISE of the United States Postal Service. All of the negative actions & publicity is & will continue to push our valued customers to the other delivery services. We are a trusted & well established public service; not a "FOR PROFIT BUSINESS". Cut the 1% overhead from USPS Headquarters in Washington DC; & leave the supposed non profitable rural post office in the established rural communities. The Post Office is there to serve their existing customers. Rural Americas' need for a letter & parcel delivery service is the foundation of what is now known as the United States Postal Service.
VPO's will not have the ability to sell Express Mail, non Flat Rate Priority Mail & Parcel Post, Money Orders, & bulk rate permit imprint mailings; just to name a few. Therefore they are of NO benefit to rural communities.
I too agree with all of the above except the one from CA. It is just too bad that upper management won't listen to the people that actually do the work. There are so many ways that money could be saved. It's like they don't even want to save money unless it is cutting wages for low man on the totem pole and closing small rural Post offices. Guess they don't care about service any more.
I agree with above comments, and I am an employee that drives twenty miles to avoid my mail being handled by a contract Post Office that accepted my Priority Mail on a Saturday afternoon and did not alert me to the fact they would be holding it until Monday's pick up! Who do you think got the blame for the slow service; the contract Postal unit or the USPS? Aviation Security will definitely be an issue. You have totally dedicated professionals who accept mail continually during an eight hour shift of duty; Village Post Office will utilize whatever employee they have on hand and I do pray they have all been trained. On the other hand, the Village Post Office is definitely the way to kill the Postal Service we know today and enable Headquarters to rid themselves of most of their labor costs. I surely hate to see the demise of the Postal Service, but I truly feel this will cause it.
Ben Franklin would be horrified to learn that a PO must be profitable to survive!!Is the USPS supposed to be a service, as is our Military ???
i think the idea of a village post office is an excellent one. back in the old days, i remember seeing the movie, abe lincoln was a postmaster who operated the village post office out of a store. it is a good idea, also, because we are going back even farther than that. during colonial times, people received their mail, mostly from England, at the local taverns. i like it when i visit office depot and they ask me if i need stamps. at first i was kind of shocked.
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